Rapha, nice but a bit pricey?

I don't think that it does leave every single person grappling with ethical debates. I think there is only a very small percentage of the worlds population that is grappling with this debate.

The rest don't know, don't care or don't give a flying fuck.

doing so in a sustainable fashion is the responsible thing to do.
Sustainable fashion is so on trend.

right, right... hmmm... so can we talk about this seal culling business now?

I don't think that it does leave every single person grappling with ethical debates. I think there is only a very small percentage of the worlds population that is grappling with this debate.

The rest don't know, don't care or don't give a flying fuck.

And I for one, unashamedly, fall firmly into the last category.
If our early ancestors put the good of others (strangers) before themselves, the human race would not have evolved the way it has, and I would not be here. Which may be a good thing or a bad thing. Depends on your point of view. But for me, that is a good thing

Close.

Not consuming is where it's at.

kind of, but by not freecycling you will contribute to more stuff going to landfill. by taking what others aren't using and re-using, you keep the existing products out there in use and out of the ground.

"The rest don't know, don't care or don't give a flying fuck." ... or might not be able to choose. If you're sitting somewhere in a poor country with nothing to eat, I guess you don't really care if burning down some trees is sustainable or increases your carbon footprint, as long as it gets you through the next week.

But we're not sat in a poor country with nothing to eat.

"The rest don't know, don't care or don't give a flying fuck." ... or might not be able to choose. If you're sitting somewhere in a poor country with nothing to eat, I guess you don't really care if burning down some trees is sustainable or increases your carbon footprint, as long as it gets you through the next week.

...or send your kids to work rather than to school, as long as it gets you and your family through the next day

But we're not sat in a poor country with nothing to eat.

you say that, but i'm really fucking hungry

you say that, but i'm really fucking hungry

Yes...they told me about you on in the van on the way up to Manchester the other day!

kind of, but by not freecycling you will contribute to more stuff going to landfill. by taking what others aren't using and re-using, you keep the existing products out there in use and out of the ground.

I tried so hard to do the freecycle thing but it turned into a nightmare with all the emails so I gave up. Saying that if I had something decent I didn't want anymore and didn't want to sell I would give it away via a forum these days.

yep. that and and all the other atrocities we see everywhere in the world. Like people wading through chemicals without protection, or disassembling ships bare feet and without protection goggles, the whole body covered in toxic waste and oil ... that's just a couple of things that go through my mind.

Interestingly I heard some debate about wether it's better / more ethical to buy fairtrade from africa to support 3rd world economy or to use local produce to avoid green house gasses.

Just another point that illustrates that to make the right consumer choice is a really really hard thing to do.

I think I read some article once of a business analyst on the worlds problems and how to fix them by prioritizing them and then work through the list.

Malaria, AIDS and world poverty came on top, if I recall right, and somewhere down the line there was carbon footprint and global warming.

He argued that less poverty = less cooking with wood fire, less burining tropical rain forest and so on. Seemed logic to me at the time. I'll try and dig out a link for this.

^

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jul/02/comment.internationalaidanddevelopment

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtbn9zBfJSs"]YouTube
- Bjorn Lomborg: Our priorities for saving the world[/ame]

this is quite interesting:

http://www.vhemt.org/

advocating making the decision to not have children to slow population growth..

makes sense in theory, not so sure in practice..

this is quite interesting:

http://www.vhemt.org/

advocating making the decision to not have children to slow population growth..

makes sense in theory, not so sure in practice..

Ask the Chinese. Didn't seem to work for them and their one child policy.

And before anyone else! Racist!!

before anyone else! Racist!!

Ahem,

this is quite interesting:

http://www.vhemt.org/

advocating making the decision to not have children to slow population growth..

makes sense in theory, not so sure in practice..
Something I can wholly get behind. The people that really WANT kids are generally the last people that I believe should have them.

I was hoping that Bike Snob NYC will have a go at Rapha for charging £50 for a simple scraf, only to realise cunning Rapha send him one for free.

Really, the only action required for becoming a VHEMT Volunteer or Supporter is not adding another human being to the population

I wonder if this group is run by a bunch of disillusioned idiots who are too ugly or stupid to find anyone to mate with

quite a nice little piece they got out of it too..

I was hoping that Bike Snob NYC will have a go at Rapha for charging £50 for a simple scraf, only to realise cunning Rapha send him one for free.

He did do an albeit soft piss take.

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

Probably holding out for a free shoftshell before he really lets rip.

what is ethical cycle gear

would lycra & nylon be petroleum products

like the plastics used in bags and shoes

and merino wool that's a wrong'un

no?

so how do you know what is cool

and what is not

word of mouth ?

This has to be one of the most hand-wringingly middle-class threads in Utopia.

I'm so proud :]

Interestingly I heard some debate about wether it's better / more ethical to buy fairtrade from africa to support 3rd world economy or to use local produce to avoid green house gasses.

Just another point that illustrates that to make the right consumer choice is a really really hard thing to do.
Absolutely - that's the $64,000 question. And the source of much of today's middle class angst.On the earlier point about sourcing organic clothes, that is again the problem we come up against. As a retailer, to check back that everything your primary supplier does is a) ethical & b) organic is doable. Following through to their sub-contractors is pretty tricky as they change with seasonal demand. The next stage are the sub-contractors' home-workers - for this you have to rely on the word of your suppliers & sub-contractors and it is here that the likes of Primark / M&S have come unstuck on the past. Then, as mentioned above, you need to ensure the dyes used are organic, as well as all the components - buttons, zips, threads, labelling, ticketing etc, etc.Eventually you manage to source all of this, by which time the product is coming from multiple countries, a) racking up the airmiles and b) making the cost prohibitive. So you either don't buy them, or you do and customers don't buy them because it's more expensive. So most retailers don't bother.